Death Row Inmates Sue to Stop Lethal Injection Protocols - Articles

All Content


Posted by: Julia Wilburn on Mar 17, 2025

A group of nine men on Tennessee’s death row have filed suit in Davidson County Chancery Court, challenging the use of pentobarbital in the state’s new lethal injection protocol. They cite the "risk of tortuous death," reports the Nashville Banner. According to the suit, one study found that of 58 individuals killed with the barbiturate, 48 were found to have fluid in their lungs, which can create "a sense of suffocating or drowning that has been likened by experts to the sensation intentionally induced by the practice of waterboarding — an unambiguous form of outright torture." The Tennessee Department of Corrections (TDOC) in December announced a new lethal injection protocol, clearing the way for the state to schedule executions after a five-year pause. The U.S. Department of Justice in January rescinded its use of pentobarbital in executions.